Tulane football Coach Curtis Johnson added another commitment to his coffers when he elicited the pledge of 6-foot-5, 290-pound offensive lineman Nathan Shienle of Tampa Plant High School in Florida.

Shienle, who plans on majoring in some type of science or engineering, said he was drawn to the energy of the coaching staff, loved the city, and pleased his parents by following in his sister's footsteps. Rachel Shienle is a junior chemical engineering major at Tulane.

"Coach Johnson has a ton of energy and all the other coaches are like feeding off of it," Shienle said.

Shienle said he took unofficial trips to Duke, Wake Forest, and University of South Florida and had offers from East Carolina and Eastern Michigian but found all the pieces he wanted in New Orleans and at Tulane.

"Honestly I couldn't put my finger on it. I just liked it," Shinele said of the city. "It wasn't just one thing I could specifically point out, it was just cool."